Tag: esrog

B”H

shiur for Hoshannah Rabbah 5783

 “I stood between the L-RD and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of the L-RD.” – Deuteronomy 5:5, JPS 1917 Tanach

Of the esrog and lulav, it is written, “And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the L-RD your G-d seven days” (Leviticus 23:40, JPS). Yet, when we make the beracha (blessing) before shaking the esrog and lulav, we only refer to the lulav. That is to say, out of the four species that are taken in one’s hands and shaken in all directions, we only say a blessing over the lulav.

The lulav represents our connection to heaven and earth. When we shake the lulav in the four directions, this represents north, south, east and west. When we shake the lulav and esrog above and below, these refer to heaven and earth. Why does the lulav represent our connection to heaven and earth? The lulav, symbolic of the spine, and the middah (character trait) of uprightness, or righteousness, may be understood as representative of Moshe, who was an intermediary between H’Shem and B’nei Yisrael. “I stood between the L-RD and you at that time, to declare unto you the word of the L-RD; for ye were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount” (Deuteronomy 5:6, JPS). Thus, so too, the tzaddik olam, the Holy One of Israel.